Hakone Restaurants & Food
Experience Local Dinning
Hatsuhana Soba Honten
For some solid local fare, you should make a stop at the quaint Hatsuhana Soba Honten and have a set of soba. The shop is very small, only seating around tweleve customers but has a great old world atmosphere. The price is moderate, around $15-20 USD for a 'set', and less if you order invididually.
635 Yumoto, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture 250-0311, Japan
+81 460-5-8287
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Tamura Ginkatsutei
For curry tonkatsu, curry tofu and some atmosphere make sure you slide on in to Tamura for a mouth-watering set of curry. The curry set costs between $13 and $50 depending on what you order. The set comes with rice, two side dishes (very small) and a bowl of miso soup.
1300-573 Gora, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture 250-0408, Japan
+81 460-2-1440
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Youraku
Traditional Japanese dining with a wealth of dishes, most of them being freshly caught seafood. Menu items include fresh Sea Bream Fillet with sesame sauce, and Pepper Chirimen. The restaurant has a set menu which starts at 3,000 yen in mid day and then in the evening the menu starts at 4,000 yen. You will pick from a wide assortment, and will end up with nearly a dozen dishes being served to you.
http://www.youraku.co.jp/
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Shikajaya
A quaint restaurant on the river, the Shikajaya has a simple menu feature mostly Tofu and Yamaimo dishes (Japanese yams). The food here is original, and is based on a set menu, where you choose three dishes. For example the Tofu Tenshin selection includes:
1) Sauteed tofu seasoned with soy sauce, served with sliced welsh onion, grated ginger, shavings of dried bonito and a cube of butter.
2) Cold tofu served with a paste of sesame grated horseradish and miso.
3) Tofu cooked in a kelp stock, served with grated Japanese yam seasoned with miso.
Sets average around 1,900 yen.
http://www.shikajaya.com/index2.html
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Hakone Kare Kokoro
For something a little more laid back and easier on your wallet, check out Hakone Curry Cocoro and score some Hakone Style Curry Rice (Kare Raisu).
The restaurant touts ‘life-prolonging’ spring water which is used in its cooking as being good for health and body enzymes. While any health benefits remain to be unseen the curry is delicious and is reason enough to partake.
The menu items vary and is focus around curry (no surprise), such as curry and rice with veggies (1080 yen), or curry and rice with fried pork, which is the house specialty (1580 yen). And if you really are on a budget there is ‘normal curry’ for 880 yen.
